HEALTH CARE

LA 500: Michael Weinstein

Michael Weinstein is the president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Before becoming involved in HIV/AIDS-related issues in the 1980s, he was a businessman and graphic designer. As president and co-founder of AHF, he oversees an $1.3 billion organization whose mission is to provide “cutting-edge medicine and advocacy regardless of ability to pay.” AHF currently serves 606,413 clients in the United States, Africa, Latin/America and the Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific region and Eastern Europe. In order to help finance some of the many services AHF provides, Weinstein created the popular Out of the Closet thrift store chain, the nation’s largest AIDS-related retail business. Active in local politics, under Weinstein’s guidance, AHF was a primary backer of Measure S, an anti-development ballot measure in Los Angeles.